Manchurian magnificence

Saline seepweed loves alkaline soil, and the Liao River delta in northeastern China offers ideal conditions in which to grow. In fact, this member of the amaranth family flourishes here so well that every autumn in September and October it transforms the countryside into a sea of flaming red. In keeping with the color of official Chinese ideology and the country’s national flag, the authorities declared its largest wetlands a nature reserve in 1985. A small section is open to the public.